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Yu G, Wu Y, Duan Z, Tang C, Xing H, Scharff MD, MacCarthy T. A Bayesian model based computational analysis of the relationship between bisulfite accessible single-stranded DNA in chromatin and somatic hypermutation of immunoglobulin genes. PLoS Comput Biol 2021; 17:e1009323. [PMID: 34491985 PMCID: PMC8462741 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1009323] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/22/2021] [Revised: 09/24/2021] [Accepted: 08/04/2021] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
The B cells in our body generate protective antibodies by introducing somatic hypermutations (SHM) into the variable region of immunoglobulin genes (IgVs). The mutations are generated by activation induced deaminase (AID) that converts cytosine to uracil in single stranded DNA (ssDNA) generated during transcription. Attempts have been made to correlate SHM with ssDNA using bisulfite to chemically convert cytosines that are accessible in the intact chromatin of mutating B cells. These studies have been complicated by using different definitions of "bisulfite accessible regions" (BARs). Recently, deep-sequencing has provided much larger datasets of such regions but computational methods are needed to enable this analysis. Here we leveraged the deep-sequencing approach with unique molecular identifiers and developed a novel Hidden Markov Model based Bayesian Segmentation algorithm to characterize the ssDNA regions in the IGHV4-34 gene of the human Ramos B cell line. Combining hierarchical clustering and our new Bayesian model, we identified recurrent BARs in certain subregions of both top and bottom strands of this gene. Using this new system, the average size of BARs is about 15 bp. We also identified potential G-quadruplex DNA structures in this gene and found that the BARs co-locate with G-quadruplex structures in the opposite strand. Using various correlation analyses, there is not a direct site-to-site relationship between the bisulfite accessible ssDNA and all sites of SHM but most of the highly AID mutated sites are within 15 bp of a BAR. In summary, we developed a novel platform to study single stranded DNA in chromatin at a base pair resolution that reveals potential relationships among BARs, SHM and G-quadruplexes. This platform could be applied to genome wide studies in the future.
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Affiliation(s)
- Guojun Yu
- Department of Cell Biology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York, United States of America
| | - Yingru Wu
- Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York, United States of America
| | - Zhi Duan
- Department of Cell Biology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York, United States of America
| | - Catherine Tang
- Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York, United States of America
| | - Haipeng Xing
- Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York, United States of America
| | - Matthew D. Scharff
- Department of Cell Biology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York, United States of America
| | - Thomas MacCarthy
- Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York, United States of America
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Branton SA, Ghorbani A, Bolt BN, Fifield H, Berghuis LM, Larijani M. Activation-induced cytidine deaminase can target multiple topologies of double-stranded DNA in a transcription-independent manner. FASEB J 2020; 34:9245-9268. [PMID: 32437054 DOI: 10.1096/fj.201903036rr] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/03/2019] [Revised: 04/20/2020] [Accepted: 04/24/2020] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
Activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID) mutates immunoglobulin genes and acts genome-wide. AID targets robustly transcribed genes, and purified AID acts on single-stranded (ss) but not double-stranded (ds) DNA oligonucleotides. Thus, it is believed that transcription is the generator of ssDNA for AID. Previous cell-free studies examining the relationship between transcription and AID targeting have employed a bacterial colony count assay wherein AID reverts an antibiotic resistance stop codon in plasmid substrates, leading to colony formation. Here, we established a novel assay where kb-long dsDNA of varying topologies is incubated with AID, with or without transcription, followed by direct sequencing. This assay allows for an unselected and in-depth comparison of mutation frequency and pattern of AID targeting in the absence of transcription or across a range of transcription dynamics. We found that without transcription, AID targets breathing ssDNA in supercoiled and, to a lesser extent, in relaxed dsDNA. The most optimal transcription only modestly enhanced AID action on supercoiled dsDNA in a manner dependent on RNA polymerase speed. These data suggest that the correlation between transcription and AID targeting may reflect transcription leading to AID-accessible breathing ssDNA patches naturally occurring in de-chromatinized dsDNA, as much as being due to transcription directly generating ssDNA.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah A Branton
- Program in Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, NL, Canada
| | - Atefeh Ghorbani
- Program in Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, NL, Canada
| | - Brittany N Bolt
- Program in Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, NL, Canada
| | - Heather Fifield
- Program in Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, NL, Canada
| | - Lesley M Berghuis
- Program in Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, NL, Canada
| | - Mani Larijani
- Program in Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, NL, Canada.,Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, Faculty of Science, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada
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Duvvuri B, Wu GE. Gene Conversion-Like Events in the Diversification of Human Rearranged IGHV3-23*01 Gene Sequences. Front Immunol 2012; 3:158. [PMID: 22715339 PMCID: PMC3375636 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2012.00158] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/05/2012] [Accepted: 05/25/2012] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Gene conversion (GCV), a mechanism mediated by activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID) is well established as a mechanism of immunoglobulin diversification in a few species. However, definitive evidence of GCV-like events in human immunoglobulin genes is scarce. The lack of evidence of GCV in human rearranged immunoglobulin gene sequences is puzzling given the presence of highly similar germline donors and the presence of all the enzymatic machinery required for GCV. In this study, we undertook a computational analysis of rearranged IGHV3-23(*)01 gene sequences from common variable immunodeficiency (CVID) patients, AID-deficient patients, and healthy individuals to survey "GCV-like" activities. We analyzed rearranged IGHV3-23(*)01 gene sequences obtained from total PBMC RNA and single-cell polymerase chain reaction of individual B cell lysates. Our search identified strong evidence of GCV-like activity. We observed that GCV-like tracts are flanked by AID hotspot motifs. Structural modeling of IGHV3-23(*)01 gene sequence revealed that hypermutable bases flanking GCV-like tracts are in the single stranded DNA (ssDNA) of stable stem-loop structures (SLSs). ssDNA is inherently fragile and also an optimal target for AID. We speculate that GCV could have been initiated by the targeting of hypermutable bases in ssDNA state in stable SLSs, plausibly by AID. We have observed that the frequency of GCV-like events is significantly higher in rearranged IGHV3-23-(*)01 sequences from healthy individuals compared to that of CVID patients. We did not observe GCV-like events in rearranged IGHV3-23-(*)01 sequences from AID-deficient patients. GCV, unlike somatic hypermutation (SHM), can result in multiple base substitutions that can alter many amino acids. The extensive changes in antibody affinity by GCV-like events would be instrumental in protecting humans against pathogens that diversify their genome by antigenic shift.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bhargavi Duvvuri
- School of Kinesiology and Health Science, Faculty of Health, York UniversityToronto, ON, Canada
| | - Gillian E. Wu
- School of Kinesiology and Health Science, Faculty of Health, York UniversityToronto, ON, Canada
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